1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a headlamp having light-emitting-diode (LED) light sources, and more particularly, to a headlamp having LED light sources, the headlamp being capable of generating a low beam and a high beam using LED light sources.
2. Background Art
Vehicles are generally equipped with various lights for lightening drivers' field-of-vision at night or for informing other drivers the presence of a vehicle on a road. Conventional lights for vehicles typically include a halogen lamp or a high-intensity discharge (HID) lamp as a light source. Conventional lights for vehicles also include a reflection plate which reflects light emitted from a light source forward. A reflection plate may include a coating layer which is obtained by depositing a highly-reflective material such as aluminum or silver powder on the surface of the reflection plate.
Conventional lights for vehicles are equipped with not only a light source but also a reflection plate and a lens. In addition, the fabrication of conventional lights for vehicles involves a patterning operation and a coating operation in order to provide various functions such as light reflection, emission, and dispersion functions. In short, conventional lights for vehicles have a complicated structure, include a considerable number of elements, and require a considerable number of fabrication processes, thereby increasing the manufacturing cost.
As part of the effort to address the problems associated with conventional lights for vehicles, light emitting diode (LED) lamps have been developed and widely used in headlights for vehicles. Due to the characteristics of LEDs, LED lamps are known for their long lifetime and high space efficiency.
Conventional headlights for vehicles include a low beam lamp and a high beam lamp. In order to generate a low beam and a high beam, conventional headlights for vehicles are required to include both a low beam lamp and a high beam lamp and a reflection plate for each of the low beam lamp and the high beam lamp, thereby resulting in spatial restrictions and increasing the manufacturing cost of headlights for vehicles.
In order to configure a headlamp capable of generating both a low beam and a high beam, a shield may be disposed at the front of a headlamp. However, the shield may cause a loss of light by covering part of a light source during the operation of a low beam lamp.
The information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art that is already known to a person skilled in the art.